#153 And now to the west coast...

Ganghwa Island, Incheon Airport, Wolmido and Incheon Metropolitan City.

The west coast of Korea , is along the Yellow Sea. The continental shelf is wide and most of the water near the shore is dirty brown. This area is known for its muddy flat lands along the shore.

Ganghwa island is known as a combat zone and has many old fortresses to protect the country from foreign attacks a few centuries ago.




This is Korea's Lucky Bird
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The following pictures are from a Buddhist Temple in Ganghwa.
This is really how traditional Korea is...







We must put coins in this big bowl of water. If it hits the center, then our wish will be fulfilled. My coin landed many centimeters away from the center [:(]

But this was perhaps the sweetest water I have tasted so far in Korea... very pure and natural.

CHODING POWER

GODING POWER (goding: middle school students)

Construction underway: Incheon Airport - Incheon City Sea Link.
Once constructed, it will be around 12 kilometer long and will be amongst the three longest of its kind in the world.

And then we took this ferry to Wolmido... Yes our car went right inside :)

Korean cars, ready for export...

And in Incheon City: These are residential apartments.

Back to square one...

#152 Can something be better?

I am too tired to write an introduction, haven't slept since two days. But so far, this has been my most memorable experience in Korea :)

I took a trip to the North Eastern Coast of South Korea, to a small beach town Jeondongjin, and was lead to a marvelous city Gangneung by some really wonderful people, that I happened to meet by chance!
---This is Cheongnyangni Station of Seoul City. It caters to trains linking Seoul to the Eastern part of Korea.

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And my train, listed on the chart as train number 1661. A normal express, not superfast :)

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And the Sunrise Express: This train is run at a specific time, such that it reaches Jeongdongjin (my destination) before the sunrise.

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Pretty people in pretty clothes :)

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I reached the destination well on time, 4.05 am. And this is what I saw. This is the horizon... all you can see is the horizon... thats the Face Of God :)

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Waiting anxiously for the sun to rise and show me its brimming face...

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Aah.... here it is... almost there!

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Hello, hello, where are you?

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Ooops, something that I feared, the cloudy monsoon sky, hid the sunrise :(, and the sun could only be seen a few degress higher, a few minutes later :(

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Oh, btw, here is the beautiful Pacific Ocean, my first view of crystal blue waters :)

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I am a hero, aren't I? PHBBT

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Clear waters and clear sand...

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This is the whole beach and the Jeongdongjin railway station. This station has an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records, as the railway station closest to a beach. Well, its almost on the beach! The stairs from the platform, end up on the beach. This was a lovely sight from a high hill near the beach.

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This, is a resort, at one end of the beach. Its a hotel made in the form of a huggggggggggggge Ship.

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This is a pretty famous icon in Korea, and this led to the beach becoming a national attraction. This is a sand hour glass, but its time period is not one hour, its ONE YEAR. On every New Year's Day, this hour glass or YEAR GLASS is rolled about and restarted. It was installed and is maintained by Samsung.

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Jeongdongjin Beach Town - Pretty structures all around.

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Aahhh... let me come to the point... A Choding (term's meaning explained in earlier post) introduced me to Jeong Hwa in the bus from Jeongdongjin to Gangneung Terminus. And we ended up being good friends. She offered to show me around a truly wonderful hill station city Gangneung.

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And this is Gangneung...

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These are: Na Hyae, Me, Jeong Hwa and Hyeon Yeong... had a cool time with them around :)

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Spotted some Wind Turbines :) !!!!!!!!!! Really happy to see them in action since my internship research is on the same :)

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This is a typical Korean train: KORAIL

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On the way back to Incheon...

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Through the tunnels, cutting the mountains...

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Through the clouds, cutting the air...

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And some more...

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Wonderful pine trees all around...

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Korean country-side... Gangwon Province

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Pyeong Chang is a city on the north eastern coast of South Korea, and is competing to host the 2014 Winter Olympics :) Incheon has already won the bid to host the Asian Games in 2014...

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Awesome... Simply...

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At the end of the day, I would like to preserve my two tickets from this special trip!!

And, will you believe me people, if I add that the whole green cover that you just saw turns red and yellow in Autumn, completely! And white in winter, completely covered by snow! This province of South Korea receives the maximum snowfall and becomes a natural skiing resort!

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Sorry folks... there are too many nice pics to post... but most of them are private ;)